schildi-klein

SPECIES

ASTROCHELYS YNIPHORA

The Madagascar Angulated Tortoise (Astrochelys Yniphora)

comes from Madagascar where it is also called “Angonoka”. Next to G. Platynota (Burma) and Pyxis Planicauda (Madagascar) it is one of the rarest tortoise in the world. Estimates suggest that there are only several hundred sexually mature animals left in the wild.

Thanks to the support of the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey, the breeding station in Ampijoroa, a part of Madagascar’s Ankarafantsika national park succeeded in breeding more than 2000 Madagascan angulated tortoises, A.  Yniphora. We received this happy news first hand when we visited the location in October 2012.

A. Yniphora’s natural habitat at the north western coast of Madagascar is very small. It lives mainly in dry forests

and is a vegetarian.

A. Yniphora’s typical characteristic is its large projecting gular scute, a alveolar bone shaped like a ploughshare. A. Yniphora grows to approx. 45 centimetres and a weight of approx. 10 kg.

Its shell has a distinct creme coloured underlying structure with a rectangular pattern. The young Angonoka is brownish-yellow, with age it turns completely to creme.

The Tortoise Survival Foundation is searching intensively for a breeding stock of A. Yniphora. We hope that with the help of other nature conservation organisations and in close cooperation with the CITES authorities we will eventually be successful.